


ask me to (stay)

by hoppnhorn



Series: Harringrove Bits & Pieces [24]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Billy Hargrove Being an Asshole, M/M, Steve Harrington Needs a Hug, boys being bad at communication
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-07
Updated: 2020-10-07
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:08:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,318
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26876434
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hoppnhorn/pseuds/hoppnhorn
Summary: But Billy looks up at him with an expression that makes Steve shudder. It’s angry, sure, but there’s something else under the surface. Something cold.“You got something to say?” He snarls.Steve sits up, his heart racing and his face hot. He can’t help but respond to Billy; he’s never been able to resist.They fight, they fuck, and it’s all because they can’t seem toget enough.
Relationships: Billy Hargrove/Steve Harrington
Series: Harringrove Bits & Pieces [24]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/912654
Comments: 14
Kudos: 255





	ask me to (stay)

**Author's Note:**

> idk what this is but i had this _idea_ that if Steve shut Billy out when Billy was in love...what would a broken hearted Billy Hargrove do?

Tommy has a thing about starting conversations that Steve really just, doesn’t want to get into. And one of those times, it just so happens that Billy is in a chatty mood.

Chattier than his usual eye-rolls and grunts of irritation. 

Sometimes Steve can’t tell if Billy hates Tommy or simply can’t stand the topic of conversation. But they still show up to these stupid end-of-summer things because Billy mentions them, so Steve sort of assumed that Billy wants to _go_.

But now he wishes he’d ducked this one out because the conversation of _monogamy_ comes up when Carol swoops in, kisses Tommy soundly on the lips and calls him “husband” and Tommy says “my girl” and it’s _pretty dumb_. It’s annoying how gaga they are for each other when they’re only fresh out of highschool; it’s not like Tommy is going to marry her that spring.

Or maybe he will. 

But before it can get much further along, Billy is launching into a tirad that begins with, “Monogamy is fucking stupid.” 

And Steve feels his stomach shrivel to dust. 

Ash probably. 

He feels like he’s swallowed hot coals as Billy rants about freedom and human nature and whatever bullshit he’s spouting to declare that humans weren’t _meant_ to stay with one person. That they should be free to have as many partners as they please.

Steve can’t fucking _think_ as he stares down at the beer in his hand. 

It’s not like he’d expect Billy to put a _ring_ on it, but. They’ve been _whatever_ since the end of senior year and it’s been a few months. He’d _assumed_ that it wasn’t just. 

Nothing. 

“So it’s gonna be something new every night huh?” Tommy says loudly, his eyes sparkling with something between envy and maybe laughter. Like he can’t imagine how long that would last in a place like Hawkins. There’s only so many choices.

“Worked out just fine back in Cali.” Billy says with a snort, pulling out a cigarette to light with a stupid flick of his wrist. Big shot California boy. He never lets anyone forget it, even though he’s lived in Indiana almost a full year now. “When I get back there, it’ll be back to business as usual.” 

Steve knows that it’s really _dramatic_ of him to feel like his soul is being crushed in half by the words being exchanged between _drunk_ morons, but he can actually feel tears pricking at the corners of his eyes, burning behind his nose. 

“I gotta piss.” He mutters as he stands, practically runs from the couch they’d all been sharing. There’s no line for the bathroom but he doesn’t really check as he rounds the corner and starts out the front door.

It’s late enough that no one will notice, probably. They’ll just think he passed out somewhere. 

  
  
  


A few hours later, he’s basically asleep when he hears the window opening in his room. 

It’s only alarming for a moment before he realizes what the sound is, and who would be most likely making it. 

He grunts as he turns over, watches Billy struggle to lift the frame from outside without fucking falling off the side of the house. Normally he’d be all about helping, trying to get him to safety. But there’s a shard of spite in his heart that keeps him under his warm blankets, simply watching as Billy finally gets his ass inside. 

“Thanks for helping.” Billy grumbles at him, shaking off as he rights himself. Steve doesn’t even bother to respond. “Why did you leave?” 

“Because I wanted to.” He says plainly, the emotion already bled out of him by the momentary cry he’d allowed himself in the car. He doesn’t do _weepy_ anymore. Not after Nancy. And _especially_ not for Billy. 

“Well that was _rude_ , asshole.” Billy snarks, yanking off his boots and jacket, tossing them carelessly on the floor. Making _noise_ , which isn’t really a problem. Steve’s parents haven’t been home for a day or so, already off to the Bahamas as fall starts to blow in. 

Too bad Billy didn’t know he could use the front door. 

“It’s not like you were my date.” Steve retorts, just as Billy gets to his jeans. He pauses, his fly open.

“The fuck does that mean?” He asks. His shirt comes out with a violent tug and he throws it over his shoulder, nearly knocking a lamp off Steve’s desk. 

Steve just shrugs. 

“We drove separately. That’s all.” Billy seems to mull the response over, in his bare feet and open jeans, before he bites a lip and chews. 

“What’s wrong with you?” He asks, pointed and staring. 

Steve would shrug again but Billy shucks his pants and is basically _naked_. Staring at him like he’s expecting something other than Steve to look at his junk. 

Which, it’s literally impossible for Steve not to feel a little flustered when Billy is _this_ brash, so he swallows down the saliva that naturally fills his mouth.

“I’m tired.” He puts it simply, wishing Billy would understand all of what he means without him having to actually _say_ it. 

But the way Billy frowns in irritation makes him realize he might. 

“Too tired for me?” He asks, gesturing to himself like he’s a prize to be had. He is, honestly. But Steve doesn’t fall for it. Doesn’t let his gaze sweep over the body he’s spent months memorizing with his eyes, mouth and hands. “You telling me to get lost?” 

Steve hates this. He hates it. 

But he nods. 

Just once, against his pillow, and Billy stumbles a bit. 

Sort of like he’s been slapped.

“The fuck?” Billy says under his breath, his scowl only growing. He only waits a second, probably to see if Steve will interject. Ask him to stay. He’s always asking Billy to stay. _Please stay._

But not tonight. 

His stomach is in knots when Billy leans over, rips his jeans off the floor. 

“Fuck you, Harrington.” He hisses, tugging them on. “I drove out here, thinking you’d gotten bored and wanted to come back to the _real_ party—”

“I’m sure there’s still something to go back to.” Steve retorts, not so gently, his hands shaking under the covers. He’s angry and wounded, but he’s also _scared_. 

Scared that he’s right.

That Billy will simply move on and none of this will register beyond an inconvenience. 

But Billy looks up at him with an expression that makes Steve shudder. It’s angry, sure, but there’s something else under the surface. Something cold. 

“You got something to say?” He snarls. 

Steve sits up, his heart racing and his face hot. He can’t help but respond to Billy; he’s never been able to resist. 

They fight, they fuck, and it’s all because they can’t seem to _get enough_. 

“Don’t let me hog your dance card, Hargrove. Go pick up something new every night.” He watches as Billy squints, frowning so hard his eyes are unreadable.

“I’m _here_ aren’t I?” He gestures around the room. “The hell are you being _pissy_ about?” 

“You don’t want to stay,” Steve hisses at him, “so why bother coming back here? Go back to California where you were King Shit.” 

And this time, well.

This time he can’t hold back the tidal wave. It hits like the surf, brutal and consuming, taking him under until he can’t help but snarl as tears flood his eyes. 

He cries silently, swiping at tears while he sits in bed, and Billy just.

Goes very, very still. 

“Just go.” Steve eventually breathes. “My parents aren’t here so you can go out the front.” 

“You kicking me out?” Billy snaps. And Steve just sighs, exhausted, in more ways than one. 

“Billy—”

“You throwing me out?” Billy asks, again, this time with his arms wide like he’s waiting for a hit. Shirtless, without socks or shoes. He waits in the middle of the room with a challenge on his face. _Make me leave_. 

“No.” Steve mutters. “You know I’m not.” 

“Then the fuck are you talking about?” Billy asks.

“I think we should stop.” Steve says quietly. “We shouldn’t delay the inevitable.” 

Billy hisses, something nasty like a burn, and turns around. Hands on his hips, he says nothing for a while and Steve memorizes the way his back rises and falls with each breath, remembers what it’s like to feel all that skin against his own. 

“Fine.” Billy finally says, grabbing his shirt. His shoes. He dresses with aggressive pulls on his clothes, angrier than he’s been in a while, and something inside Steve withers and dies. 

Maybe he’d hoped Billy would fight harder.

Maybe he hoped it would end differently. 

“See ya around, Harrington.” Billy spits as he leaves, tromping through his bedroom without even meeting his eye. 

  
  
  
  


It’s three weeks before Steve sees Billy again. He’s drunk, of course, and Billy is in the same boat if Steve had to guess: sweating, screaming at the top of his lungs, dancing like a heathen around a bonfire. 

Steve is content to just down another beer and forget that he’s done nothing but mope for weeks. 

But then _Tommy_ saunters up, gets in Steve’s space with a sweaty hug that borders on, well, _laying_ on him. His breath is lethal when he leans in and says, “Where you been hidin’, Stevie?” 

He hasn’t really hidden, but being heartbroken makes him lousy company. 

He must say something to that effect because Tommy laughs, pulls him in until Steve can count the freckles on his cheeks. 

“You could have anyone here, man. Pick one!” He gestures with a beer, sloshing it onto the ground. And all Steve can see is Billy. Billy in a crop top, showing off his body and wagging his eyebrows as he holds a girl by the hips. Sways with her. 

“I can’t have what I want.” He says gently, somehow detaching himself from Tommy's sweaty side. 

He doesn’t care that Tommy calls after him. 

He doesn’t care that he’s definitely too drunk to drive. Loch Nora isn’t far, he thinks, throwing his empty beer car somewhere into the weeds. He can walk home. 

Maybe he’ll get eaten by something on the way. 

“Leavin’ so soon, King Steve?!” Billy’s voice cracks through his pity party like thunder, startling him on the uneven ground, sending him stumbling. He turns and Billy finishes his beer, crunches it in one fist before dropping it carelessly to the dirt. “Got somewhere you’d rather be?” There’s a snarl to Billy’s face, anger bubbling under the surface. 

Steve turns away, choosing to ignore him rather than play Billy’s games. 

Because the games always go the same way. 

And Steve would let Billy have anything if he played right. 

“I’m _talking to you_.” Billy yells. Petulant, and moving closer. Steve picks up his pace, running to see if Billy would chase.

He does. 

Of course, Steve should have known he would. 

Billy slams into him like a freight train, taking him down into the dirt with little warning. Steve’s lucky his arms went up in time to keep his face from smacking into the cold earth. 

“Jesus christ.” He mutters, wind knocked out him. Knees burning. “The fuck is wrong with you!” He shouts, but Billy rips him over, pins him down with a fierce glare.

“Don’t walk away from me.” Billy grunts. “You can’t just walk away.” 

“Why do you _care_?” Steve pushes and, weirdly, Billy falls back. Lets him up out of surprise. Then his hands on are Steve’s coat, pulling him in. 

“I don’t.” He snarls. Steve’s grappling doesn’t do anything against Billy’s bulk. But he fights all the same. Manages to get some space. 

“You have a funny way of showing it.” Steve spits. Kicking his legs, he gets away in the dirt, jeans covered in stains. Billy grabs at his calf, nearly sends him back down to the ground. “Billy, the _fuck_?” 

“You can’t _walk away_ .” Billy yells, on his knees while his voice cracks into something less angry and more _pained_. 

Maybe that’s what makes Steve pause, breathe for a moment as Billy bows his head.

“Why?” Steve’s heart races in his chest, pounding on his throat. “Why, Billy?”

“Because.” Steve sighs hard into the cold air, watching as Billy pulls himself onto his feet. 

“That’s bullshit.” He hisses back. _Say it_ , his heart begs. Billy snorts, mean, spits onto the ground. “You’re leaving.” 

“I wasn’t…” Billy huffs, scratches at his scalp. His eyes won’t leave the ground, won’t give Steve a _hint_ . “I wasn’t going to _leave_.” 

“You’ve been saying—”

“Not without _you_ .” Billy cuts in with a growl. “Jesus. Okay?” Eyes still averted, Billy chews on his lip. “I wanted to go _with_ you.” 

Steve gapes, heart racing. 

“Then why didn’t you _tell me_?” 

“You didn’t let me!” Billy snaps, eyes flashing steel in the dark. “You fucking _threw me out_ before I could say—”

“You told Tommy you were going to hit something new every night back in Cali!” Steve yells back, his voice barely stable. “You said—”

“Tommy is an idiot!” Billy snarls, getting in close. With shaky hands, Billy smoothes his palm over Steve’s shirt. Grabs the collar. Steve stumbles forward when Billy reels him in. “I just want you.” 

Steve contemplates kissing him, smothering Billy’s uneasy frown with the relief coursing through his body. But his heart stutters in warning, all too happy to take Billy back but all too aware of the potential _pain_. 

“So ask.” Steve demands, gently pushing Billy away by a finger to his chest. 

Billy blinks, eyes going round with hope. 

“Pretty boy,” Billy swallows, cheeks going pink, “Steve.” He closes the gap between them, taking Steve’s breath away with each step. “Will you come to California with me?” 

Steve can’t help the smile that creeps onto his face. Billy blushes deeper, moves in closer. 

“Will you stay with me?” 


End file.
